Day 19 - 6.3 miles - St. John's Hostel - Vernon, NJ

Another sunny day.  High 80's and 60% humidity.  Woke to the calls of the birds.  What a great alarm clock.  Heard my first coyote calling last night.  Met a hiker who started last year, like me, and is back to finish the 400+ miles he has to go.  His name is Country Gold.  Nice fella but very talkative.  Also met one of the "greyhounds" (young hikers) by the name of "Yikes".  She started from south of Harpers Ferry on May 11th.

Out early to beat the heat.  The bugs are terrible.  After 2 miles, I had to put on my bug net just to keep them out of my eyes, ears , nose and mouth.  We reached a great overlook that showed the NJ Highpoint tower in the far distance and made us appreciate how far we had come in one day.

NJ High Point Tower in middle on far horizon

Lots of bogs today.  We walked over one that is kind of famous in AT lore.  It is a very nice wooden walkway that goes a half mile over marsh land.  Two years ago they had a fire that almost burned the walk way.  They used helicopters to keep dropping water on it to save the walkway.

When we got to the road it was a 2.4 mile walk to town.  Hot walk, but we lucked out and found a trail angel a half mile down who offered to run us to the St. John's church hostel.  By 11 am I was starting to feel human again.  Nothing beats clean clothes and clean skin.

St. John's Hostel & Church

Resupplying in town for four days on the trail and eating everything we see.  Have already arranged a ride to the trail head at 8 am.  Just need this heat to break.  The climb out of town is a 1,000 foot climb over bolders.  Guress it could be worse.

Today we lose Leadfoot from our hiking group.  He has taken on some bad water and needs to go home and get better.  Mr. Sunshine will be hiking for awhile.

No update on Shakin.  Last I heard he left the Water Gap on Saturday.

Day 18 – 12.4 miles – Pochuck Mountain Shelter

Today started with a thunder boomer that rolled in around 5:30am.  As a result, I was late hitting the trail and didn’t roll out of camp until 8:15.  Fortunately, it didn’t rain the rest of the day.  Unfortunately, the rain didn’t bring down the temperature so it was at least 90 degrees during the day.

Today I was walking in a valley between two mountains and as a result of all the rain we’ve had, there were a lot of bogs to walk through.  There were also a lot of mosquitos to contend with.  My shoes and my legs picked up mud throughout the day.

I did make it to Unionville and was able to take care of my Memorial Day picnic cravings from yesterday.  I chowed down on pizza, lemonade and ice cream.  No watermelon but I felt very satisfied. 

Mr. Sunshine

I spent the day hiking with Mr. Sunshine and Leadfoot, so had some company both along the trail and at the shelter.  We walked along a road during a part of the day and saw an interesting use of an old cranberry bog.  New Jersey turned the bog into an estuary/waterfowl refuge.  We saw swans and a variety of geese swimming.

Tomorrow I am planning to take a “nero” day – I will walk a short distance (approximately 7 miles) and stop in a town to get a shower and a day off the trail.  After putting in lots of miles over the past few days, in all the heat, I need a day to refuel my batteries (both in my Smartphone and my body!).

Day 17 - 13 miles – High Point Shelter

Sunrise Mountain Pavillion

Tough day, in the 80’s and 62% humidity.  Water sources were really scarce so I had to camel up (a term for packing extra water during the hike).  Reached my first high point early at Sunrise Moutain Pavillion.  This place has a sad history in that a couple of years ago, a solo NOBO (north-bounder) female hiker was first to get there in the morning and she found a young man who had hung himself from the rafters the night before.  She almost quit the hike but she did finish it and wrote a book about her trip.

Lots of PUDS (pointless ups and downs) today.  Came across a deer that snorted at me like he was trying to scare me off.  Today’s hike really zapped my energy levels. I got to camp by 3pm and took a camp bath in an effort to feel human again.  My clothes can now be classified as hazardous waste! 

One of many vistas on the trail

I reached New Jersey’s highest point today.  It was so unfair – I could hear the sounds of the nearby lake/beach and could only think of hot dogs, ice cream and lemonade as I drank my warm water. 

This is my second night camping with Mr. Sunshine from California and Leadfoot from Kentucky.  I may go to Unionville tomorrow with them for lunch, hope the restaurant doesn’t throw us out because of our stink.  Unionville will be my first stop in New York - I will be crisscrossing the New Jersey and New York borders for the next couple of days!

Day 16 – 18 miles - Gren Anderson Shelter

Big one, 18 miler today, sunny, humid but lots of breezes so that helped out.  Out by 7:10am and at the first shelter, which was 11 miles out, by 12:40 so that was really pushing it.  What a dump it was.  It was right next to a green mosquito-filled pool of water, and they were all over the place.  I quickly got my water, ate a quick snack and got out of there as quick as I could.  The next camp looked a lot better even though I was going to have to put additional miles on the boots. 

Shelter where I stopped for a break

Just a little information about my camp mate last night.  His name is Orange Bear.  I had met him back at the Gap.  We caught up with each other toward the end of the day looking for a campsite.  He is a self-employed carpenter from Belgium on a six week tour of the AT and jumping around sections.  He started at Waynesboro, Virginia and at New York he plans to jump up to Vermont so he can see as much as he can during his six weeks off.  He’s a rather brave soul in that he has minimal English skills.  He has done this on other vacation hikes in the US before, he said.  He went to Aspen, CO the first time and he said he went with all the wrong gear, too heavy.  He learned his lessons when he was doing that.

Today was just a tunnel of green with occasional walks on exposed ridge lines.  Not a very exciting day, I saw various lakes down in the valleys but just endless, endless trees.  Surprising for New Jersey, huh! 

It's great to be back on the trail!

The shelter, fairly nice, a great water source.  You wouldn’t believe some of the water sources along here, you just kind of close your eyes and drink it.  This was nice and clean.  The shelter is kind of full tonight, there are about 15-16 hikers here.  They must have some real bear problems in the area because they have some are signs up and at this shelter, they have a metal bear box to put your food in for the night instead of hanging it from the trees or the foolish ones who put their food in their tents.

That’s it, I’m kind of tired after an 18 mile hike today so once again, I’m heading off to bed early.  Again an early rise and hopefully we won’t do as many miles tomorrow.

Day 15 – 13.4 miles - Rattlesnake Campsite

AT Version of Stonehenge (in the backgrond not foreground!)

Hurray, in New Jersey today.  Unbelievably long, hot walk across the bridge going over the Delaware River just to start the hike up a mountain.  Lots of snakes today, must have scared up about 10 of them but none of them dangerous.  Passed an unusual natural pond - Sunfish Pond - where just about the only fish in it are sunfish.  The water is so acidic that most fish can’t live in it except a few species.  You can see the handiwork of idle hiker hands along a particular section of the shoreline where they have created their own version of Stonehenge in a shallow section.  Personally, I think most would be too tired to do that but youth has its energies. 

Last night, a fierce storm came though the valley and knocked out all the power in the Water Gap township.  The power didn’t come back on until about 2am.  I was at the Church hostel and it didn’t bother me or other thru hikers, we were already in bed. 

Too Tall and Whole Wheat

I was fortunate enough to run into section hikers Too Tall and Whole Wheat as they were hiking Southbound.  Last I saw them was Tuesday in Lehigh Gap.  They hiked to Delaware Water Gap, shuttled to the NJ border and were hiking back to the Water Gap today.

The water in NJ has a lot of tannin in it so even though it’s clean, it’s not clear, it has an opaque look to it.  Don’t look at it, just drink it!  The last couple of days have been so hot and humid, I am consuming large quantities of water as I go. 

Shakin and I have headed our different ways.  Was in touch with Shakin in the morning and his back is hurting badly. He may need to take several zero days at Delaware Water Gap. Hopefully he made it there today and will be able to recover enough to come back on the trail.

Day 14 - 15.8 miles - Delaware Water Gap, PA

To continue from yesterday . . . Shakin' got to the motel around 8:20pm for a total trip of 12 hours and 40 minutes.  The trek beat him up pretty good.  Nothing like a hot shower and an order of pizza to try to revive one's spirits.

Got a little later start (9am) this morning.  Shakin' was telling me his back was hurting him but to go ahead and meet at the first shelter.  Unfortunately, when I got to the first shelter (9.6 miles), Shakin' texted me to tell me he had only gone about 4 miles.  His back was hurting him so much he had to stop to camp for the day.  I decided to go ahead and make the push for the additional miles to the Delaware Water Gap.



Looking Down Into the Delware Water Gap

It was a hot, humid day.  I drained 72 ounces from the bladder along with additional water by the time I got to town.  That was with the temperature just in the mid eighties.  It's going to be harder as the temperatures continue to climb. 



I met another interesting trail character today - he goes by the trail name of Kentucky Geologist.  He is section hiking and slack packing.  He is with two other friends but he latched onto me as I passed him and we talked for the next 3 miles leaving his other friends in the dust!  He was quite the chatty traveler.  He has his doctorate in Geology, a master's degree in Physics and an Engineering degree.  Every summer for the last 5 years he has gone to China for the summer to teach English to high school students.  His conversation made the miles whiz by.  We parted company at a point where we took a break.

I then ran into four young hikers from University of Notre Dame.  They had placcards attached to their backpacks that were approximately 2 feet x 3 feet proclaiming that they were doing the whole AT to raise funds for a hospital in Tanzania.  Nice guys and committed to their cause.  I only had a brief moment to snap a picture since they were flying so fast.



Church of the Mountain Hiker Hostel



At the Water Gap, I'm enjoying the hospitality of the Church of the Mountain Hiker Hostel.  It was so nice to feel air conditioning when I walked into their Center.  I hope to get a good night's sleep, I've covered a lot of miles over the last two days.





Day 13 - 20.6 Miles - Wind Gap, PA



Hallelujah, a sunny day!



Sunny weather, mid 80’s today.  Well, I wish I could say I had a good night’s sleep at the Fine Lodging Hotel but unfortunately that would be a lie.  The hotel had no air conditioning so we had to keep the windows open and the windows faced a bar that stayed open until 2am.  The bar had lively patrons along with a cooking exhaust fan that sounded like a machine gun. 





View from Lehigh Gap



Got a good breakfast and headed off to climb the trail out of Lehigh Gap.  Some say this climb is the most technical climb anywhere south of the White Mountains.  Interesting views, and a little hand-over-hand climbing, but with a nice sunny day, there was a spectacular view all the way around.  EPA Superfund has been working on this area for a number of years due to problems caused by the zinc industry.  Many areas were fenced off and hikers were not allowed to venture into them because of safety concerns.

  

The next five miles we had to go through were mostly open grasslands that were being reclaimed by Superfund.  We encountered a large number of ticks! 

Water was rather challenging today so we had to ration our consumption.  I resorted to asking day hikers for an extra bottle of water (called “yogi’ing on the trail”) which I shared with Shakin’ and The Professor.  Score one for Yogi!  

Not much in the way of animals on the trail, I scared up one turkey and one buck (deer) and hundreds of chipmunks!  Turkeys are very active right now and I could hear the guy gobbling along the trail because it’s mating season.  



A rockin' good time!

Ran into another interesting section hiker, a Navy Captain who goes by the trail name Captain Max.  He is turning 78 this weekend and he first started doing sections of the trail in 2001.  It seems every year he gets injured somewhere, for instance, last year he said he went from Harper’s Ferry to just south of Boiling Springs when an unattended cut on his leg caused his leg to swell twice its size.  After $14,000 of medical treatments, they were able to save his life from the infection in his leg.  His goal is to get to Vermont where he will hopefully have finished all the sections on the trail.  There is determination.

Looks like only two more days of the Pennsylvania rocks before we reach New Jersey.  Hurray!

Day 12 - .9 mile - Slatington, PA - Fine Lodging Hotel



Fine Lodging Hotel

You never know what to expect on the trail.  We left camp at 7:10 am and by 7:40 am were being whisked to Statlington for a Nero day (day with some trail time and some in town).  As I got to the road and was looking at my map, a car pulled in and the driver said he had just dropped off a hiker called The Professor (I met him two weeks ago) to start the climb out of Lehigh and offered a lift to town in Slatington.  We landed up at Fine Lodging Hotel, an old hotel that serves as mostly a modest apartment complex.  The few vacant rooms are rented to the hikers.  Simple with common bathrooms, but clean and plenty of hot water.

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Took a walk around town.  Sad to see all the vacant little store fronts on Main Street.  I can image how nice the town once was during its heyday.  Seems that the town is the historic center for the production of blackboards!  And we all know where that story ends.  Wandered into the local hardware store and could have stayed for  hours. It was the old fashioned type with a little bit of everything tucked away in various nooks and corners.  The owner said that the only thing that kept them in existence was that they sold ammo and guns on the second floor.  WalMart has put the hurt on small stores in this town.  What a shame.  The town folk are very friendly (unlike in Port Clinton) toward hikers.  I am at the library right now and they immediately welcomed me in and asked how they could help.  I like small towns.

Well time to get some rest and plenty of food.  We are debating on taking on a 20 mile slack pack tomorrow.  It will be the one sunny day in ages and could be a tough hike if it gets to the high 80's.

Day 11 - 16.7 miles - George W. Outerbridge Shelter

Long day on the trail today.  Out of camp by 7:30am and didn't reach the second shelter north until 6:30 PM.  Today's interesting trail trait was hiking over the Knife's Edge and Bake Oven Knob and of course untold boulder fields.

First the Knife's Edge - the hiking clubs in this area have a mean streak in them.  Imagine walking along the top ridge of a mountain where it is all stone angled at 45 degrees.  Here they paint the white blazes on the stone and go along the toughest routes.  With a full pack, it was tough.  At times I had to ride on my butt to get down some wide spans without falling off the cliff.  And just to make it a little more challenging, there was a drizzle all day with constant mist.

Now the Bake Oven Knob - which they call a loose gravel bed.  Loose gravel my foot.  This was a never ending strech of microwave-sized boulders heading to the top of the moutain.  Not as bad as the Knife's Edge but the challenge was trying to find where the path was.  White blazes were few and far apart.  Most hikers got lost in this section.

We reached the first shelter at 10 miles but decided to move on when we read in the journal that it had a large population of mice, racoons and snakes.  It was built back in the 1930's.

We lucked out with the storms today.  Got into camp 45 minutes prior to a big thunder storm.  Looks like another night in a shelter.  Will this rain ever end.

Met a new thru hiker couple from Yellowstone Park.  Trail names are Strech and Zippers.  Both work as year round employees at Yellowstone for the concessions contractor.  They had very interesting stories about the park.  One interesting one was that you can experience 2.5 hour traffic delays due to bison blocking the road.  Into Palmerton tomorrow for resupply and a shower.

Day 10 - 10.7 miles - Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

Arrived at Allentown Shelter at about 1pm.  Had to wait until around 3pm for Shakin’ to catch up with me.  Tough rocks that we had to climb for the day.  When I got there, there was a kid called Lone Wolf, apparently he’s been camping there for a week, had no supplies, was begging for food so he’s in a tough way.  Nice shelter, five others stayed for the night so it was safe to stay there with the guy.  It rained during the night so that’s why I slept in the shelter. 

Day 9 (Picking Up Where I Left Off!) - 12.5 Miles - Unknown Campsite

 Well, it’s Saturday morning (May 21) and Sandy (Base Camp) and I have driven from home (Banner Country Court) up to Port Clinton (2.5 hour trip).  We arrived around 8:30 to reconnect with Shakin.  He’s still having some issues with his back but he said he’s willing to give it a try.  We are going to try to hike to the first shelter (Windsor Furnace Shelter).

We made it to Windsor Furnace Shelter by about 1pm and after a rest, Shaken felt well enough to try to go further.  We went up some pretty rocky stuff which had a combination of heat and snakes.  I ran out of water in my bladder toward the end and was looking for water as quickly as possible.  We settled in after about 9 hours of hiking into a campsite up along the ridge in the watershed area.  The insects were pretty terrible, it was so bad I put my mosquito netting on my head and ate my Power Bar underneath it.  Then I climbed into my tent to escape the bugs.  In the morning we woke up with a mist.  Our goal is to hit the first shelter.

Zero Days - xx Miles - Banner Country Court

Well enough of a break.  Shakin got to Port Clinton on Thursday and wanted a zero day on Friday.  I have been waiting at home until I could re-link with Shakin. The time has given me a chance to get everything dry and to shake down my pack a little more.  Pack weight with four days food and one liter of water is coming in at 33.5 lbs.  Still not under 30, but manageable.  Our plan is to leave out Saturday May 21.  Hopefully the aches and pains that Shakin has been experiencing will rapidly decline.

Weather seems to be finally letting up a little with just an occasional shower predicted.  I sure look forward to a little more dry times, especially as we approach the northern PA rock fields.

Day 8 - 3.6 miles - PA 183

Short hop today.  Shakin is still not caught up to me and I have not heard from him as to a status.  Base Camp (Sandy) agreed to come pick me up and I will have to re-link with Shakin in Port Clinton.

Woke to heavy rain which continued while I broke camp. Nothing like putting back on those very damp clothes, socks and boots in the cool morning.  Better than a cup of strong coffee.  Had everything packed with the wet tent being the last item put in its stuff sack, only to suddenly realize that I wasn't wearing my glasses.  Yup - left in the tent.  Luckily I didn't break them, but they were so smeared with dirt that they were half useless.

Yes - that is the AT trail.

I have come to understand the wisdom of the PA trail designers.  They make AT hikers trod the mountains' drainage routes.  The surface is durable due to the ground being washed away from the rock. It's a perfect erosion control design, but it sure beats the heck out of the bottom of one's feet, and in heavy rains you are always in a small stream either hiking up, over or down. Some of the water on top of the mountain was big enough that I was tempted to stop and drop a fishing line and see if I could catch some dinner.


My boots are now totally saturated.  I swear that I  have seen spores similar to these growing inside my boots. If you can't tell, the wet is starting to wear a bit on me.  Well, maybe the sun will come out tomorrow, tomorrow...

Day 7 - 9.7 miles - Heartline Campsite

Interesting events happen every day on the trail.  This morning, as the group of us were packing up for the day's hike, suddenly Well Woman let out a scream and dropped her pack as a mouse went scampering.  A little more searching found that the mouse had turned her rain pants into rain shorts.  It didn't end there.  The mouse was an expecting mouse and had built a nest that night in the pack and delivered what we thought were two babies.  This mother mouse was a determined soul.  She ran back into the shelter and near our feet, searching for her babies.  We placed the nest and two babies in a dark corner, which she quickly found and ran with each baby out into the woods.  After a few minutes she was back searching everywhere.  We were puzzled until we found a third baby in the pack.  Once momma retrieved the third one, she made one more dash into the shelter to retrieve the nest.  The lesson - NEVER underestimate what a mother is willing to do for her children.

Early start out onto the trail and four miles later I had one of those "if I only had...." moments. I came to the famous 501 shelter.  This place should be reclassified as a palace.  It is an enclosed building about 30' x 25' with twelve bunks (and probably no mice), and a huge picnic table in the center under a massive skylight.  Pizza delivery was available as evidenced by the stack of empty boxes by the recycling bins, a care taker who lives next door, well water and a port-a-john next to the shelter.  It would not surprise me if they didn't put a mint on your bunk each night.  But for four miles I could have been sleeping the prior night in the lap of luxury.  Oh, well.

More wet rocks to hike across.  I swear my balance is getting better with all this practice.  Just waiting to meet up with a rattler in all that rock, of course, they don't come out to play in the rain like we do.  Made good time to the campground.  Tenting tonight but looks like we will be getting downpours by night.  Won't and Well Woman set up camp nearby.  Again the rain at least waited til dinner was done.  Wet tent to pack in the morning.

Day 6 - 13.4 miles - William Penn Shelter

This storm front has just got to move on soon.  Everything still damp from yesterday and of course it starts to pour as I cross an open field.  At least my shoes and socks are only wet and not sloshing.  My first obstacle of the day is a stream that I need to ford.  I dutifully take off my gear, pull out my crocks and change foot wear to cross the stream.  Later that night at camp I learn that there was an easy walking detour just round the corner. Hmmmmm!



Devil's Raceway



Two hikes up to ridges made for some sore muscles.  On the last ridge of the day, I had to cross what they call the Devils Raceway.  Being PA this could only mean a long stretch of unstable rock boulders to hop along on.  They have a different definition of fun in PA.  Well as soon as I got through that, the sky grew very dark and lighting and thunder started with pounding rain. (well I was almost dry).  Started to do my counting between lightening and thunder.  It got within a mile and a half and I was getting ready to retreat down the ridge when it turned.  Now my boots were swimming pools.  Still three miles to get to Penn Shelter.  One nice surprise was to come across a totally bright orange salamander sitting on the trail and enjoying all the rain.  Really cool to see how bright orange it was.

The next storm at least held off until I got to the shelter, got my water supply and had dinner.  Then it rained like there was no end to it.  At least I was under a roof.  Trouble was that roof had very busy mice living there.  Could hear them rattling around in our packs all night and had one run across my head about 2:30am.  Better to be dry and suffer a little bit of a disturbed sleep.

No personal pictures today - it was just too darn wet.

Day 5 - 18 miles - Rausch Shelter

If you have ever heard of the term "A bridge too far" - that was today.  I was dead tired by the time I reached the shelter.  Today's excursion included a two hour steady climb to the next ridge. To add to fun, there was a light rain most of the day.  At least that helped keep me cooled during the long pulls.  I have been taking breaks every two hours which generally equates to about four miles on the trail.  Helps to get the pack off the back.  I hiked a little faster across the rocks today and got ahead of Shakin.

Lots of mist on the trail today.  Sometimes I could only see fifty feet in any direction. A little eerie, but also a little like walking in a dream.  Slowly I am getting completely soaked by all the damp.  Look forward to getting to camp and some hot food and warm clothes.

Rain fogged the lens.  Will it ever end?

Of course when I got to the shelter it was filled with Boy Scouts.  All I could think was how much further would I have to go to find a camp site, but the Scout Master immediately directed several of his charges to vacate the shelter and set up tents.  Nice to see such consideration for the long distance hikers.  The troop was great, even offered part of their dinner.  Much fancier than my Spam and Ramen noodles.

Met three new hikers at the camp.  "The Professor" who started at the beginning of Shenandoah Park and plans to flip in Maine.  He is a recently retired Chem teacher from Johns Hopkins U.  He always seems to have a joke to tell.  Also met "Won't & Well Woman" - doing the trail in two week sections over the years.  When they retire they plan to do a thru-hike.

Day 4 - 11.3 miles - Peters Shelter

As we headed out of Duncannon across the Susquehanna  River, we found a freight train waiting for a green track light blocking our access to the trail. Could not catch the engineer's attention and we were just waiting for the train to start moving as we crossed in front of it and squeezed by it and up onto the trail.  Not the way I like to start the morning.

Tough hiking up the steep incline out of town with five days of food on board.  It's a long haul to Port Clinton.  This was my first introduction to Pennsylvania's famous long strips of rock scramble.  Seemed like it would never end and like who ever planned the route was a little sadistic.  Every opportunity they took us over rocks.

Threat of heavy rains tonight.  Thought there was only going to be three of us using the shelter that night.  WRONG.  It's a weekend night!  At 7:30PM a troop of 10 boy scouts show up.  Not bad, they were well behaved.  Then at 8:30pm a group of 10 locals showed up.  They were a different kind of camper.  From the parking lot three miles back they hauled in five children's wagons filled with their gear, beer and pot.  Needless to say it was a long sleepless night.  Got out of there quick at first light.  Didn't want to see the bedlam that was going to ensue when the two groups started to stir.

Peters Shelter is fairly new with two levels.  It replaced one of the original shelters that had a dirt floor.  That shelter is now featured at the new AT museum at Pine Grove Furnace, PA.  Earl Shaffer (first thru hiker) said that it was his favorite shelter to stay at on the trail.

Day 3 - 10.5 miles - Duncannon (Doyle)

Up early and another nice day.  Steady climb to a ridge after we crossed a small valley.  The altitude is minor but still hard on this old body.  Will take a few weeks to get back into shape.  Saw my first Lady Slipper today.

Reached Duncannon about 1:30 pm.  Going to call it an early day and get a room at the Doyle.  Looking forward to a nice hot shower.  Ah, the little things that make us happy.

 Planning to get an early start tomorrow.  Five days of rain predicted starting late Friday.  Oh, Boy!  Nothing like hiking on wet PA rock.

Day 2 - 8.5m - Darlington Shelter

Another great weather day - sunny and mid 70's.  Most of today's trail took us through rolling Pennsylvania farm country.  The trail was easy until the last two miles when we had to hit the ridge to reach the Darlington Shelter.  Got in early so we had the pick of bunks in the shelter.  Nice shelter.  Clean and fairly new.  The privy was one of the best one's I have seen yet - they named it Taj Mahal.

Thought we were going to be the only hikers there for the night but around 7pm five trekkers filtered in.  Nice to have the company and chatter.  One section hiker put in a 27 mile day.  Guess it's nice to be young enough to expend that kind of effort.  He was also the first out of camp on Thursday.

Got a nice surprise of a hiker I met in TN last year pulling into camp.  He goes by the name of "Jake".  This guy hikes all over the AT and is fast.

Well, our goal tomorrow is to reach Duncannon and stay at the Doyle (yes Tripper - the Doyle).

Day 1 - 5.7 miles

Today was the start of Part 2 of my Appalachian Trek.  Nice sunny day in the mid seventies and an easy trail.  A hiker that I met last year on the trail is hiking with me.  His trail name is Shakin and like me, he sustained an injury last year that forced him off the trail about the same area. 

We took an easy day today with a warm up hike of 5.7 miles from Old Stonehouse Rd into Boiling Springs, PA.  We walked thru many farm fields of new grain plantings that were about a foot high.  The bright green fields gave a true feeling of Spring.  It only took us just under two hours to clip thru this section, of course we were "slackpacking" (light day packs) which helps speed up the hike.  Nice way to ease into this long trek.

When we got to Boiling Springs, we stopped by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Mid-Atlantic office to check on water availability and trail conditions northward.  With such a wet Spring, its looks like we won't have any water issues.

Tonight we luxuriate in the comfort of a motel room then Sandy and Samantha will drop us off at the trail in the morning.  Now the real work starts.

Here are Shakin and me at the ATC.

That's right, your eyes are not deceiving you, the tent is up in the house.  Just a last minute check for any repairs that might be needed.